Pistons coach Loyer calls loss embarrassing

Detroit Pistons guard Will Bynum (12) stretches for the ball against Miami Heat forward Chris Andersen (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, March 28, 2014, in Auburn Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

AUBURN HILLS >> Interim Pistons coach John Loyer has tried to stay positive since he took over, even as the team continues to struggle. But even Loyer couldn’t put a positive spin on Friday’s performance. Loyer called the Pistons effort in the 110-78 loss to Miami embarrassing.

“I told our guys for whatever games I’ve coached, 20-plus games, I thought every single night other than a stretch here or there, but every team has a stretch here or there, we laid it on the line,” Loyer said. “Tonight we didn’t lay it on the line and to me that’s embarrassing.”

The Heat ended the second quarter on an 11-0 run and outscored the Pistons 35-18 in the third quarter to blow the game wide open.

Miami’s LeBron James had his first triple double of the season with 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and he did it through the first three quarters.

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Detroit shot 38 percent from the field, including a dreadful 3 for 24 from 3.

“It’s really frustrating,” Kyle Singler said. “You don’t want to play basketball like that, to get beat like that. ... We go out playing to win each game, but as the game goes on we sometimes get down on ourselves, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We gotta keep playing through the tough times. Just get through those tough stretches. If we do that I think we’ll start playing better.”

Streaking 76ers

The Pistons now travel to Philadelphia where they will face a 76ers team which has lost 26 in a row and is looking to avoid history by breaking the all-time record for losses in a row. Philadelphia’s current losing streak is tied with the record held by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers.

“We have to focus on Philadelphia,” Josh Smith said. “We know that they’re struggling so we have to be able to try and go in there and not be that team to end the streak.”

The Pistons are 5-17 since firing coach Mo Cheeks so Saturday’s matchup will be a collision of two struggling teams, but both want to avoid making history.

“No one feels sorry for us, we don’t feel sorry for anybody,” Singler said after Friday’s loss. “It’s another ballgame for us so we want to go out there and beat them, plain and simple. It’s an important game for us, especially coming off a game like this.”

Big crowd, bad effort

With the two-time defending champion Heat in town and a Bad Boys reunion at halftime to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1989 NBA champion Pistons, Detroit picked a bad time to give a poor effort.

A season-high crowd of 21,231 saw the Pistons lay an egg against Miami.

“We have to be able to try and compete for 48 minutes,” Smith said. “It’s just disheartening that we had a really good crowd out there and we really couldn’t compete better than we did.”